Proteins, acting either directly or through their enzymatic functions, are implicated in many diseases in humans and other mammals. The inhibition of disease causing or disease potentiating proteins is, therefore, one major goal of medicinal chemistry. Known enzyme inhibitors, however, tend to have poor oral bioavailability and a short biological half-life, particularly inhibitors for HIV-1 protease.
There remains a need in the art for compounds which effectively inhibit the biological, chemical, and/or physical properties of enzymes and other medicinally-significant proteins. The present invention addresses these as well as other needs.